Monday, April 20, 2015

Smithsonian!

We spent Sunday, our last day in DC, at the Smithsonian and
since I do not usually like either taking museum pictures or presenting them, I
left the camera at the hotel.

Mistake! Just as the Smithsonian is no ordinary museum (or
museum system) nor are their exhibits typically static. We spent the afternoon
in the Museum of American History. You could easily take a week in DC moving
only from Smithsonian to Smithsonian. Wow!

Fortunately the new iPhone 6 has a rather good camera. It
got the job done. Next time, though, the camera comes with.

Entrance to The Castle

The Founder, entombed in the entryway

The Natural History Museum across The Mall from the Castle

The Mall, torn up for renovation, with the Capitol in the background

Julia Child's kitchen. In the right foreground The Garland, her range and oven.

Sharon and Julia

After all the foodie stuff, transportation, for me. I particularly liked the tilting rack that the Model T was mounted on. Would have loved to have one of these back in the days when I spent so much of my young life under cars.

Motors

A California Highway Patrolman and his 1970s Kawasaki directing traffic. We were pleased by the prominence, here and in the food hall, of our home state!

My mother always claimed that her obstetrician offered to trade me for a 1948 Buick. She probably should have done it. This one (from 1950) appears to have held up better than me.

A. Lincoln's Barouche

We were not entirely sure about this depiction of Washington as a Greek statesman. But who knew he was that ripped?

This, the Choate house in Ipswich, taken down and transported to the museum. The house and the exhibit tell the story of the families that inhbited it from colonial merchants to abolitionists to immigrant washerwomen, over two hundred and fifty years.

Monday off to Philadelphia via either Amish country or
Gettysburg. We’ll decide in the morning.